Irene Teruel knew exactly who she was when she arrived in New York. The problem was, no one else there did. With a career built at Spain’s most prestigious law firms—Clifford Chance, Gómez-Acebo & Pombo—and executive education at Stanford and Harvard Business School, she discovered that this resume, outside the context in which it had been built, opened no doors for her. Without the American BAR (Bar Association of America), without a local university degree on her resume, and without experience in American companies, she had to reinvent herself from scratch, literally from a windowless room in Brooklyn that a friend used as a gym. Today, she heads the US operations of Bioelements, a Chilean multinational sustainable packaging company, and has founded HiExec, a high-level network for Hispanic executives in New York. His story is not just that of a successful career change: it is a snapshot of what happens to Ibero-American legal talent when it crosses the Atlantic and faces a system that doesn’t know how to read it.
“New York happened to me by chance.”
The starting point wasn’t a strategic decision but rather a reconnaissance. What did you find upon arrival?
Arriving in New York was a recognition from Gómez-Acebo & Pombo for my performance and revenue, and I will always be very grateful for the support I received from Álvaro Mateo, Íñigo Erlaiz, and Almudena Arpón—lawyers and people I deeply admire. To be honest, I never imagined myself living here. New York happened to me by chance, as a result of a lot of hard work and effort, and six years later, I’m still here. The best things that happen in life are beyond your wildest dreams.
“For the first time, I truly began to believe it was possible.”
Contact with the American business ecosystem accelerated a pre-existing concern. When did you decide that law firm wasn’t the only path?
I’ve always had a huge interest in the business world. If I had to choose a career today, I’d probably study Business Administration, but at seventeen you don’t know that. Advising companies, sitting on boards of directors, doing due diligence in tech companies, meeting founders in the middle of building something from scratch… all of that as a lawyer gave me a perspective on the business world and planted the seed of wanting to be on the other side.
“It was when I arrived in the United States that everything fell into place: here I saw much more clearly concrete opportunities to apply my legal experience from the business side, and for the first time I truly began to believe it was possible.”
That said, it wasn’t easy at all. As a Hispanic immigrant woman, many doors were closed to me because I didn’t have a BAR, I wasn’t a graduate of an American university, and I lacked experience working for local companies. And life in New York City is a huge culture shock and a whirlwind of activity at first. I lived in a windowless room in Brooklyn that a friend used as a gym. I still remember my parents’ faces when they saw it: utter horror. Getting a company to sponsor my visa was an ordeal: I had some really good offers that fell through the moment I said I didn’t have a green card. But I kept trying, I connected with some amazing people, and I reinvented myself until I finally succeeded.
“Done and well-focused is worth more than perfect and late.”
The debate about whether legal training is an advantage or a hindrance for those who want to lead from a business perspective has a case study in you. What have you gained and what have you had to give up?
Without a doubt, a legal background is an advantage, especially if your practice is commercial. Direct contact with the business world gives you a unique perspective. As a lawyer, the regulatory framework is not an obstacle but a tool: understanding it before starting an expansion is key, and if you have legal training, that process is much more efficient because you already know where to look and what to ask.
What I’ve had to actively unlearn is perfectionism. In an office, every document, every email, goes through a rigorous review process. In the business world, that has no place: everything moves very fast, and you have to respond just as quickly. Done and well-focused is worth more than perfect and late.
“I learned to lead through execution, not theory.”
Your time in the startup ecosystem is where that transformation accelerated. What lessons from that period have directly influenced your work today?
It was a period that forced me to completely change my mindset: from minimizing risks to managing them and making quick decisions. In the startup ecosystem, I understood that not deciding is also a decision, and usually the worst one. I learned to work with incomplete information, prioritize what truly impacts the business, and lead through execution, not theory. Today, I take away that: strategic vision, speed, and comfort with uncertainty, which is where things really happen.
“You know exactly where to look before you sign.”
Bioelements was the first major project where that hybrid profile was tested on a real-world scale. How did it perform in practice?
Building Bioelements’ American operation from the ground up has been one of the most demanding and comprehensive projects of my career. Bioelements is a Chilean company specializing in biodegradable flexible plastics, and my job was to bring it to the US market: obtaining BPI and USDA certifications, establishing strategic alliances with converters, distributors, and manufacturers, assembling a team, and managing sales and operations from start to finish.
My competitive advantage has been my hybrid profile. I negotiated all those alliances, sales, and strategic agreements for the company directly, and when you’re a lawyer, you know exactly where to look in a contract before signing it, which clauses will affect your business for the next two years, where the real risk lies, and where the apparent risk is. You don’t need to wait for an external lawyer to explain it to you: you already see it, and that speeds up negotiations and gives you a much stronger position vis-à-vis the other party.
“Nothing I had done was American.”
HiExec was born from a very specific experience. What was the moment when you realized there was something to build there?
I’m so glad you asked. The hardest part wasn’t the language or the visa process. It was walking into a room and no one knowing who I was, the law firm I’d worked for, or the university I’d attended, because nothing I’d done was American. Having to start all over again after building a solid professional reputation in Spain. I learned that my story was my introduction, that my accent wasn’t an excuse but a credential. And of course, to feel incredibly proud of being Spanish. And when I started seeing that so many other Latina or Hispanic professionals were going through the exact same thing, alone in a country without their community to support them, I realized there was a huge opportunity to create HiExec.
HiExec is a platform connecting Hispanic, Latina, Spanish, and any professional with deep ties to the Spanish-speaking world. Our mission is to create a trusted network where Hispanic women connect, share knowledge, and open doors for each other, bringing together established leaders from various sectors.
What’s significant about HiExec is not only its mission, but its timing: it was born precisely when the political climate in the US was hardening and when representation data was hitting historic lows for Hispanic women. We bring leading female executives to speak, give them visibility through interviews, and organize in-person events. It’s not a support group: it’s a high-level network where Hispanic female executives connect, open doors, and build strategic alliances.
And I take this opportunity to extend a direct invitation: if you are a Hispanic executive in New York, HiExec is your community.
“The best things that happen to you in life are beyond your wildest dreams.”
A career that has never stopped reinventing itself. What remains when you close your computer, and what would you say today to a thirty-year-old Spanish lawyer looking towards the other side of the Atlantic?
When I shut down my computer, I have the most precious things in my life: my husband and my son. They are what gives meaning to everything else, and the reason why I eagerly open my computer again every morning.
To a lawyer in her thirties who wants to come to this side of the Atlantic, I would say: TAKE THE LEAP! It doesn’t matter if you’re a lawyer, an engineer, or a teacher; the United States, despite everything you read in the news about politics and so on, is still the land of opportunity.
